Unifor's 'I Shop Canada' Campaign Aims To Counter U.S. Trade Concerns

The consumer push is launching right before Canada Day.

Unifor's 'I Shop Canada' campaign is encouraging people to stick to Canadian goods and services.

Canada's largest private sector union is launching a national social media campaign to urge consumers to support Canadian jobs by buying products and services made in Canada.

Unifor national president Jerry Dias says the "I Shop Canada" campaign is its response to an "escalating trade war with the United States."

The campaign urges consumers, workers and companies to share information and images about made-in-Canada goods and services on Twitter using the #ShopCanada hashtag and #ShopCA tag and on Facebook, where an I Shop Canada frame for profile pictures is also available.

Dias says consumers will gladly support Canadian brands and services if they are aware of them.

The launch comes just before Canada Day, when Ottawa intends to implement retaliatory tariffs on $16.6 billion worth of American products to counter U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imposed as of June 1.

An online poll conducted by Abacus Data in the first week of June found that more than half of 2,200 Canadians surveyed said they intend to avoid buying U.S. wines and cross-border shopping.